For more than three decades Michael A. Gill has been one of New Jersey’s best known and most successful divorce lawyers. He has been certified since 2001 by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Matrimonial Law Attorney. And he possesses a unique and valuable personal journey, one that’s especially notable for an accomplished attorney.

Gill found the law later in life: Through his 20’s he spent his nights tending bar at a popular Somers Point pub, and for several years he competed as an amateur middleweight boxer. His success today - he is partner at the 20-lawyer firm of Goldenberg, Mackler, and he served in 2004 as President of the Atlantic County Bar Association - is very much a by-product of a quiet determination and grit borne of those early years. One of six children, Gill played football at Ocean City High School, but made his mark as a boxer. In his youth he wandered into a Police Athletic League gym and found “I had a knack” for the sweet science.

By his early 20’s Gill was the veteran of more than 50 amateur bouts and was the runner-up in a Delaware Valley Golden Gloves tournament. Married right out of high school with two children, he tended bar, often until 3 a.m., and worked as a brick mason and concrete finisher. But chronic elbow tendonitis and a yearning for more in life directed Gill to college in his mid-twenties.

In 1987 he was accepted to Rutgers Law School in Camden, “58 minutes door to door”, and continued to work. At law school he became Managing Editor of the prestigious Rutgers Law Journal where he published two articles, one which has been cited by the New Jersey, Michigan and Wyoming State Supreme courts. With his law degree, Gill was immediately hired by Atlantic City trial lawyers Ken Mackler and the late Harry Goldenberg, both “father figures, and great influences on me.” He adds, “They had confidence in me - I found myself arguing a case in Court the day after I was sworn in to the Bar.” Gill went on to head the firm’s Family Law Department. “One of the reasons I chose Goldenberg, Mackler was that I thought I would have the opportunity to cultivate my own practice and it worked out that way.” Gill’s practice is unique as a stand-alone department in a firm that focuses primarily on plaintiff’s personal injury work and Workers’ Compensation issues.

His leadership in the Atlantic County Bar Association in recent years burnished his reputation as well. Gill received a 2010 Professional Lawyer of the Year Award from the Atlantic County Bar Association and the Commission on Professionalism in the Law.

As a late bloomer, Gill remains modest, free of bravado, even a little uncomfortable with self-promotion; “You let your work speak for itself. I remember from my boxing days - it’s what you do in the ring that counts.” Gill is a self-described “workout fanatic” who makes time for an intense workout almost every day and maintains a high level of energy. He lives in Linwood, NJ, not far from his firm’s Northfield office.